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Once upon a time, I had an obsession with pulp novels and Film Noir movies… hold on… wait one darn minute… Ok. Ok! I still do. What’s with this once upon a time crap. It’s true, I love reading trashy 1940s and 50s pulp fiction and there is a beautiful satisfaction watching a femme fatale get some dark and dirty revenge on the person who wronged her. Oh. Yes. There. Is. I rarely read or watch modern books or movies, unless they independent. I’d rather drift off into another era and enjoy the masters at their craft. Give me a pre-code or film noir movie any day or a novella from the 1920s. During my commutes to work, I would always have a book to read and eventually I started getting into podcasts. I’m now obsessed with them. I am a full-time writer now and no longer take that daunting trip via transit on a daily basis any longer. The only thing I missed was that time I had to read or listen to a podcast. Now I listen to them before I begin writing. It helps to wake up my creative juices.

Over the last few years, True Crime Podcasts have become increasingly popular. There are chatty podcasts like My Favorite Murder or ones that more news-driven, including having experts on their shows like Murder Was the Case. The beauty of a podcast is that you don’t always need access to WiFi to stream them. Many podcast apps will let you download them so you can listen to them at your leisure. I currently use PlayerFM. They have an extensive list of podcasts that pretty much cover everyone’s interests. I was thankful to have that app during my recent, fours hours both way, trip to my parent’s house.

Whether or not you want to personally admit it, as humans, we are all interested in hearing or reading about the darker side of humanity. I honestly feel like this is the reason there has been an explosion of True Crime podcasts, blogs and YouTube channels of late. Podcasts are also an alternative to books on tape. It’s less of a commitment when the story may only take up an hour of your time.

I have compiled a list of my favourites below. There is a mix of real life and fiction. The link will take you into PlayerFM. I’m not saying you should use that particular app, it’s just a fast way for you to access the podcast and information if you are intrigued by the title. There are descriptions of what the podcast is about for each individual podcast on their website.

What podcasts are you listening to? Do you have any True Crime Podcasts you’d like to suggest? Please let us know.

I am super excited to announce that my poem Foxglove, about an aging redheaded superhero, is in the amazing anthology, Canadian Ginger. I am honoured to be in this book along with some super talented writers, including Margaret Atwood. Yes, that Margaret Atwood!

This Saturday, please join me and my partner in crime Zoltan Du Lac for another Killer B Cinema! You get two killer b flicks for only FIVE Dollars! There will also be trivia with prizes! Click here for the link to the invite.

Archtop Cafe has become one of my favourite neighbourhood cafes. It’s located in Bloor West Village and is about twenty-minute walk from my home. There are a few things that make this cafe one of my favourites. The staff are top notch and make you feel at home right away. There are classics from the 1920s to the 1980s being piped out of the sound system and in the theme of the music, the cafe sells vinyl, both new and used. A few months ago, they opened a section of their basement as a used vinyl shop. Vinyl lovers, you need to check out this place.

The cafe is a nice size and has quite a few tables, it would be a great place if someone was considering holding a reading. At one point they had live music on Thursday and Friday nights and though they have put that on hold, it may resume again in the fall. Out front during warmer weather, there are a few cast iron bistro tables. The other day, while running errands, we sat out there sipping lattes as we watched the villagers walk by.

I love that I live in a part of town that has neighbourhoods with their own individual personalities. Each feels a little like the small villages they use to be. High Park, The Junction, Roncesvalles and Bloor West Village.

In the basement of the Annette Street, Public Library is the West Junction Historical Society. I need to visit the Historical Society when it’s open to the public as it will assist me with my research. I also need to find a day to go to the Toronto Reference Library. I keep putting it off and need to just suck it up and go. One the problems of living in a neighbourhood that you are in love with and has almost everything you need within walking distance is you tend to not leave the area. Personally, I am also someone who can go days or even weeks without leaving the hood. I would much rather go to places that I can walk or cycle to. If only the information I needed from the Toronto Reference Library was online!

In other news and in the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing promotions for the new documentary on H.H. Holmes. My friends also know that I’m a bit of an H.H. Holmes aficionado so I often get tagged in things referencing him. I am on the fence about watching the documentary as the topic it’s about has already been debunked several times and I honestly think his great grandson is just trying to cash in on the fame, especially with the movie Devil in the White City with Leonardo DiCaprio coming out and the popularity of the novel. Every time I hear about the documentary on the History Channel I feel a rant brewing and ready to bubble up. H.H. Holmes was NOT Jack the Ripper! I could get into a whole detailed timeline showing why he wasn’t, or the many glaring and obvious reasons that he could not be Jack, but I would rather leave that fun to you. Seriously, go read up on both of them. Though the history is gruesome, it is also very fascinating and once you educate yourself, you will also realize how impossible it was for H.H. Holmes to be Jack.

I’m going to end this blog post before I go off on a serial killer tangent.

Not in a cafe today. Nope. This redhead is not in a cafe, she is, however, drinking coffee right now. I’m gonna need it. Ever try to cram too much into one day or week. Raise your hand or in my case hands. This girl right here. It’s ok, it’s all good important stuff.

Something else I am trying to cram in every day, somewhere after morning coffee and between getting my arse working, is exercise. I’ve made giant steps in cleaning up our diet and clearing out processed foods. Clean eating is cleaning us out to… oh, TMI? Too bad. You already knew what you were getting yourself into by reading my blog. Back to the exercise. I hate it. I have to do it, for a variety of reasons that include life longevity and I need to lose weight, plus I sit on my ass for too many hours in the day. On the weekend, I FINALLY got my bike wheel fixed. I had been putting it off since it burst in the fall. About time, right?

Right.

As a full-time artist, I have to watch my spending. I’d much rather spend money on things such as food, rather than on public transportation. Now that I have fixed my bike, I can use it to trek to destinations, such as cafes to write in, getting groceries and running other errands. Today, I took it for a run around the neighbourhood and guess what I discovered. I’m out of shape. Way out of shape. After a twenty-minute ride, I was sweating and my legs felt like jello. Oddly, I wasn’t winded, though the wind in my bangs felt lovely. If I’m going to be doing all the things I mentioned above, I need to get my stamina and leg strength back. I think the last time I rode that bike was a couple years ago. It sadly sat on my balcony, then eventually in my back yard… till now. I knew my limitations and only went a short distance. Each day I will push myself a bit further and build my strength back up. This includes getting up a small hill, yes, I said small hill. I felt like a pathetic failure that I could only make it halfway up the hill and then had to get off and walk the rest of the way. Who the hell can’t bike up a small hill? Me apparently! Pathetic!

I knew my limitations and only went a short distance. Each day I will push myself a bit further and build my strength back up. This includes getting up a small hill, yes, I said small hill. I felt like a pathetic failure that I could only make it halfway up the hill and then had to get off and walk the rest of the way. Who the hell can’t bike up a small hill? Me apparently! Pathetic!

They say it takes 21 days to have a new habit stick. I’m hoping this one sticks faster! I know myself and am taking baby steps so I don’t fail at this. As I mentioned above I’m not a fan of exercise, but I need to explain. The reason I fail at exercise is I have repetitive things. If I do the exact same thing over and over again, I get bored and move on. This is why I don’t want to do conventional exercise. I use to actually run before. Then I hurt my knee and that came to an end. I loved running because you could go off to your own creative zone as you jogged along, I love walking for this reason also. Being at a gym, there is too much noise and I don’t feel like I can do that. I feel like bicycling is the same as running. At least for me, it is. Also, there is no monthly membership and there is no real way to look glamorous at the gym.

Another reason to start cycling again is to see if I can get some of my other dames to join in. I can finally start that Edwardian Girl Gang but on bicycles. I am also intrigued with events such as the Tweed Ride. Toronto used to have its own event and I hope they start it up again. Even though my bike is super old, it, unfortunately, wouldn’t be considered vintage, just yet.

Ok. Enough about exercise talk. That isn’t what this blog is about. It’s about me, in cafes, writing. A think I hope to do again soon. For now, I am destined to be in my home and on my couch. There are a few factors keeping me here this week, including all the rain we will be getting… again!

Ok. Ok. Yes… I was on a roll. Blogging almost every day. Then. Poof. Smoke bomb. I was gone. Don’t worry. I’m not gone. I’m still here. So where did I go?

I didn’t actually go anywhere… However, I did get lost — in my novel.

I’ve been crazy motivated since returning from my parents. There is something about that small town that motivates me to write dark, horrific things. It inspires ghost stories. I’ve been taking advantage of that writing adrenaline rush and have accomplished quite a bit. I actually can’t seem to write fast enough. This is a good thing.

Also, the weather hasn’t really been cooperating. We are still having many, many, many, MANY days of rain. Even with a risk of rain, I don’t want to chance taking my laptop outside. I know I could wrap it in plastic, but I am still paranoid I will get it wet. This coming week is looking a bit better, so I am hoping to get out to a cafe at least a couple times this week. If not… I may need to continue writing from my couch or dining room table.

I’ve also been doing some recipe creation and then testing this week. I have another blog, where I am blogging about food and recipes called Not Vegan, Now Vegan, please check it out!

Today I also FINALLY fixed my bike. It keeps breaking down. It was free and has had a few issues since I got it. In the fall the back tire blew out and I finally got it fixed. I fixed it for a number of reasons. 1. I need to exercise and lose weight. I’m working hard to clean eat, get processed food out of our lives and eat a healthy plant-based, whole foods, vegan diet but that isn’t enough. I need to also be exercising more. 2. I can avoid public transit as much as possible. It’s not a secret that I am not a fan of our public transit. It somehow one an award for being the best transit system, yet is actually one of the most expensive and most inefficient. I’m not sure who else was in the running. But, it is definitely not the best, especially when they shut down huge chunks of the system every weekend. 3. I can go to way more cafes to write Redheads Writing In Cafes. BONUS: I can cycle to our local pool to cool off when summer heats up.

Well, I’m not technically in a cafe again today, although my home smells like one. A mix of coffee and sourdough bread baking makes it feel pretty legit right now. Speaking of bread baking. I have started a journey (which I mentioned before) into removing processed food from our lives and diet. Yes, it’s a hell of a lot of work and it will be worth it. My recent journey and science experiment was making sourdough starter and bread. I now have an amazing starter going and am waiting for the second loaf I’ve made to come out of the oven. I get so excited when I take the lid off for the final bake and see the amazing oven spring. Each time I make a loaf I will get better at it. I’m still doing basic loaves and once I am confident that I have that down, I am going to explore other flavours, adding seeds, different shapes and get artistic with the scoring. I figure after about a dozen loaves I will have a good feel for it. To read more about my adventures, click here. The next two things on my list to create are Vegan butter and Kombucha. I will be blogging about those as well.

Once the loaf is out of the oven and cooling, I need to put my big girl panties on and go out for a walk and fruit run. Once again the forecast is calling for rain. I know, stop whining, we could be having a drought. I’m sure you are all sick of my constant complaining about it. I’d just like a few days in a row of no rain, so I can actually go to a cafe and write. I’m hoping July is lovely and sunny. I live a few minutes walk from High Park and am hoping to get to the pool often. Several years ago, I hurt my knee and due to this, I am no longer able to go for runs, which was one of my main methods of exercise. Thankfully swimming is low impact. Not to worry folks, this isn’t going to become a blog about exercise. I only mention this in passing. I’m a creative, not a jock. Can you even imagine? I thought not.

My fella and I have been revisiting all of the original Twin Peaks episodes before we watch the new season (3). Last night my fella wanted to also watch Fire Walk With Me. I warned him it a) wasn’t necessary to watch and b) is terrible. We watched it anyway. I honestly feel that it was a movie that David Lynch didn’t need to make. I love his warped mind and insane style of filmmaking. I have and always will see whatever David Lynch makes, this movie, was not good. When it first came out, I think I rented it on VHS. It actually took me two attempts to watch it. The first time I think I got about thirty minutes in and had to shut it off. The second time, my roommate cracked open a bottle of wine. I think that wine was the only thing that kept us motivated to watch. We had to cleanse our palettes by rewatching Blue Velvet. Thank goodness for Isabella Rossellini!

I’m back on track with my novel again. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time sending out short story submissions and I may send a few more towards the end of the week. I have a few first drafts to pull out and work on, I may do that on Friday instead. By then, my brain will need to switch to something else for a few days. What are other creatives currently working on? I’d love to know.

Once again, I’m not actually writing in a cafe. I’m on my red couch, however, I do have a cup of coffee, so technically my living room is a cafe? I was hoping to hop over to one of my local cafes today to write, but… surprise, surprise, it’s going to rain! As much as I want a change of environment, I don’t want to risk getting my laptop wet. Alternatively, I want to start spending time in the back garden writing, again, rain delay. Maybe I will get to one day this summer. I know. I know. Stop complaining, your life isn’t that rough.

So, you may be asking, what has Lizzie been up to these last few days. After her daily barrage of blogging, why did she go dark? I needed a few days off. If you are a creative, you will get this. You can exhaust your juices and need to recharge them. That is exactly what I did. I am feeling fresh and ready to write again. Part of recharging was spending the afternoon and evening with friends. We indulged in ciders, comfort food and one of my favourite things, Neil Gaiman. Calm down, not the actual Neil Gaiman (I wish), rather a live action fan film created by Evan Henderson and Nicholas Brown.

We began our adventure at Sneaky Dees. I went with my fella, my partner-in-crime October, and her fella. Every. Single. Time. I go to Sneaky Dees, I forget how large the portions are and of course, we always get nachos to start. Why do we do this? WHY? After being uncomfortably stuffed with delicious food, we slowly ambled towards The Royal for the premiere of Sandman: 24 Hour Diner. First up, I need to say this, the marketing for this movie was brilliant. Not only were the posters stunning, but they postered the city, had tonnes to give out at the end of the movie and we were given these lovely tickets because we reserved our seats. Kudos to the marketing team.

Evan Henderson and Nicholas Brown did a fantastic job for their first film. Doing fan fiction is hard because you don’t have financial backing and you need to pull out all your skills to get these types of projects made. Hopefully, Neil gets to see this adaptation. After midnight, the film was made available for everyone to see, here is the link to the movie. If you are interested in reading more about the project, here is a link to their Facebook Page. Personally, I’m glad I got to see it on the big screen and at The Royal. Our rep theatres are an important resource for young filmmakers. October and I have written a horror movie short and after seeing this film am realizing we need to get off our butts and get it filmed.

After the movie was over, we made our way over to Free Times Cafe for a few more drinks and a discussion with our friends Raven, Simon and their daughter. They are both huge Gaiman nerds as well and we have a really interesting conversation about the books in comparison to the movie. I loved that I was able to nerd out, about Neil Gaiman with like-minded goth nerds. Yes. Goths can be nerds too.

Also in the works is a project that my fella and I are working on. It will be launching in October and I will have more teasers in the next few weeks. We are working out the details and once we do, we will let you in on our secret. I can tell you it is something we are both passionate about.